Veliko Trgovisce Journal; Boyhoods Enshrined: Keeping Up With Tito

This village, with its wooden crucifix in the main intersection, is known chiefly for its turkeys.

''We used to ship them in the old days to the British court,'' said Mirko Repovecki, 55. ''They are big and tasty birds.''

But the historical importance of Veliko Trgovisce, 40 miles northwest of Zagreb, is about to undergo a profound change.

Construction workers, armed with hammers, chainsaws and bottles of cheap brandy kept on a nearby brick pile, are renovating a small house in the center of the village. President Franjo Tudjman of Croatia was born in the house in 1922, and next month it is to be opened as a museum celebrating his childhood.

Until now Veliko Trgovisce (pronounced VELL-ee-koh trr-goh-VEESH-cheh) and the house have not rated even a mention in local guidebooks, in part many contend because of the apparent suicide of Mr. Tudjman's father here, although official histories say he was killed by the Communists.

''This room will have the President's bed, but not the one he sleeps in now,'' Milan Levar, a construction worker, said as he stood in the gutted shell of the brick house. ''It will be the bed he used as a boy. The whole house will be as it was when he was little.''

But the project is being carried out under the long shadow cast by the village of Kumrovec, 10 miles up the road.

The Communist leader Tito, who reveled in self-glorification and ruled Yugoslavia for 35 years until his death in 1980, took over the entire village of Kumrovec, where he was born in 1892, and turned it into a monument to himself.

The vast parking lots in Kumrovec, now cracked and filled with weeds, once saw dozens of buses parked there each day as children, veterans' groups and factory workers from all over Yugoslavia were disgorged and shepherded around on mandatory tours of the 30 turn-of-the-century houses, shops and barns.

Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 saw the swift decline of Kumrovec. It has been stripped over the last six years of most of its Tito memorabilia, on most days it has a handful of visitors and there are few signs that Tito lived there.

Only the brooding life-size bronze statue of Tito, his hands clasped behind his back and his long military coat blown out behind him, remains like a sentry in front of his whitewashed stucco boyhood home.

President Tudjman, his office said, is embarrassed by the fuss and has nothing to do with the project here.

Franjo Kajfez, a presidential adviser in charge of the renovation, told the Croatian press that the work was undertaken by the state after many foreign dignitaries who visited the birthplace complained to him that it was not being properly maintained.

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But no one interviewed in Veliko Trgovisce, which has a population of about 6,000, has ever seen any foreign dignitaries lingering around the house, which before the current repairs was abandoned and in disrepair.

Mr. Tudjman's critics worry that Veliko Trgovisce will evolve into a shrine to Mr. Tudjman much as Kumrovec was to Tito.

The state media, which lead the evening news with Mr. Tudjman's daily activities and statements, often compare him to George Washington and Charles de Gaulle. Mr. Tudjman likes to don a white military uniform for ceremonial occasions, once Tito's trademark, and has taken over Tito's villa on the island of Brioni.

''Who is going to stop the Minister of Education from spontaneously issuing an order to all primary and high schools to organize visits to Veliko Trgovisce?'' wrote The Feral Tribune, an independent weekly.

Mr. Kajfez recently told the state-run daily Vecernji List, in an open comparison with Kumrovec, that there would be no additions put on Mr. Tudjman's small family home because ''in the end Tito's house remained as it was.''

''Tudjman envies Tito,'' said Boris Maruna, the editor of Vijenac, an independent cultural review, ''but in the end he cannot compete with Tito. Tito was larger than life. He held Yugoslavia together. No matter what Tudjman does he can never be another Tito. He will never project the same image to the public.''

But to the people of this village, this is a chance to cash in the way those who lived around Kumrovec did under Communism.

A storeowner in the nearby town of Luka, anticipating the frenzy, has already renamed his premises Tudjman. The owner of the local cafe, Miljenko Repovecki, is building small apartments near the Tudjman house for visitors who want to sleep over. And municipal officials hope the renovation of the home is just the beginning.

But when Vjekoslav Peharec, 67, was asked what, besides turkeys and the President's boyhood home, made Veliko Trgovisce a special place, he pointed proudly up the street to the small train station.

''That is where Tito left Kumrovec as a young man to see the world,'' he said. ''It was from our train station that Tito began his journey to greatness.''